Superstar Sleeze

Kobashi/Ogawa is without a doubt my personal favorite match of 00s Japan. To me it embodies the absolute essence of what makes pro wrestling just so damn fun. It strikes me as a match that even if you were a fan of just American wrestling you could get into this puroresu match and cheer for Kobashi to beat up this little cheating chump. I will have it in my Top Ten, but I don't think it will make the Top 5. I thought I may have overrated Takayama/Ogawa, glad other people dug it. I am going to rewatch it soon. I have said it before and I'll say it again, Yoshinari Ogawa is my spirit wrestler. Right down to the zebra print tights, hair style and body type I would wear if I was a wrestler. I would be the most UN-macho wrestler always looking to cheat or get under someone's skin. I am so sick of everybody being a tough guy in wrestling. Ogawa is a breath of fresh air and one of my favorites to watch.

I like 7/05 for what it was: a Big Dome nostalgia match, a great Best Hits of Misawa vs Kawada match. It really should have been Misawa's retirement match, a near perfect way to send him off. Also I am not a huge watch everything in chronological order nut, but All Japan is the one exception. It really should be watched in order. When I first got into it, I jumped around and really liked what I saw. I thought it was the greatest shit ever. Then I watched it order and it became greatest shit ever times infinity.

Another rewatch and another improved rating. I loved the energy of this match so much. Ogawa is just so much bigger than Kawada. He looks so imposing. Kawada feels like the underdog Cinderella story of March Madness taking on Duke in the National Championship. That speaks volumes to both men's charisma. Clearly Kawada is the more decorated pro wrestler, but you would never tell that from this match. Ogawa had the arrogance and presence you want in a shoot style bully. Kawada was cautious, but never hesitant, he was going to fight fire with fire. He knew he was going to get hit in the mouth he was just going to have hit harder. He was out to prove pro wrestling was the true king of sports. Everything about this was chaotic. With that came some awkward moments, but that just fed into the mayhem. The two flaws of the match that keeps it from the Top 10 is Kawada whiffed on a couple kicks to head and Ogawa is really bad at registering moves. He kinda just hops when he takes a kick. It is weird and jarring at times.It is kinda cool because he does not feel like a pro wrestler, but it seems like he is trying to be one. I am picking nits. This is should end up between #15-25. I loved the crazy energy with Kawada going to town on the leg to press his advantage with the STO looming ever-present to knock him out. Awesome brawl! ****1/2

What is about Mutoh legwork you hate? I love the urgency of it. It feels like a full court press. Rewatched this match because I fucking loved it the first two times, but it had been like seven months since I last saw it (can't believe that) so I wanted to know if it held up. I found something new to love. After Mutoh hit an out of nowhere Frakensteiner, Tenryu actually baits Mutoh to hit the Shining Wizard setting up his big bombs. That's fucking awesome. Everything I said holds true the key is Mutoh's full court press early throws Tenryu for a loop and when he eats a Shining Wizard early Tenryu has to spend most of the beginning shaking the cobwebs loose. The apron work is enough to make Taue jealous. It is so dramatic as wrestlers are flying over the ropes, through the ropes, on the apron and off the apron. I just love how much these guys are putting on the line to be the Triple Crown Champion. In 2001, Mutoh brought the dropkick back in all its sexy glory. The Fuck You Dropkick to Mutoh's knee is just amazing. I have popped for it every time. Tenryu is amazing on offense with his knee work, but his knee gives out on the Texas Cloverleaf. I loved how Tenryu would keep Mutoh at bay with his nasty closed fists to set up his big bombs. However, on the coup d'grace Mutoh knees him in the head and it is just academic, Mutoh takes shot after shot at his head with his knees and then a moonsault takes the Triple Crown Championship. I am a transitions mark. To me there is nothing more important than the transitions in a wrestling match. These are the critical moments that move the plot along. 1. Right off the bat, you have Mutoh flash Shining Wizard and then the kappo kick that ends Tenryu's first resurgence and brings the match to the outside. 2. You really felt who came out from the war on the oustide/apron would win and Mutoh was able to get the Dragon Leg Screw as Tenryu looked to take the high ground. 3. However not to be outdone Tenryu Fuck you Dropkicks to the Knee put him in the drivers seat 4. Tenryu baits Mutoh into a Shining Wizard that he blocks to hit a brainbuster. 5. Mutoh knees him in the skull calling back to #1 and sets up his victory. I was wary of going the full monty before, this match is truly a Top 5 match of the decade and a definite ***** match in my opinion.

Rewatched this as I felt I short-changed it. It is amazing that I am agreeing with my reviews almost wholeheartedly I just absolutely hate the ratings I am giving. What is my problem! After Misawa lost in 2000 this is the exact match they needed especially if Akiyama is scheduled to win. Misawa has, has to reestablish himself as a major obstacle for Akiyama to overcome and he does that by elbowing through everything. Akiyama and Misawa are making each earn everything. Akiyama is not standing around just getting elbowed he is forcing Misawa to elbow through his offense. By the same token when Misawa hesitates like he did on the top rope early Akiyama dropkicks him off the top rope. I loved how they constantly attacking, but with Misawa getting the better. Thus Akiyama earns another victory over Misawa, but this time it is through resiliency rather than pure offense. He plays Misawa's game and wins. Misawa is forced to one-up himself and more often than not does more harm than good. Thus the Super Tiger Driver was the key to victory, but could not follow it up. Akiyama has enough fight to counter the Emerald Flowsion and hit a bomb. Like I said, they are both recovering in opposite corners. It comes down to who can pull the trigger first and Akiyama hits the knee and the rest is history. Akiyama outlasts Misawa and wins proving February 2000 was no fluke and that he can come from behind. Some of the transitions were a bit lame and it was a bit bloated and listless in the middle. The overall story propels this to fourth best match of 2001 and probably no worst than #30. ****1/2

Loved this match even more on second watch. This was just an all-time Kawada performance. It reminds you why he is one of the greatest of all time. I am at an all-time high on Misawa and Kobashi and Kawada has sort of lagged in the background because of some weak individual performances in the 2000s. He brought it here on offense and defense. The neck targeting was just pinpoint accurate. Then he continued to sell the leg and arm throughout the match as Mutoh was changing his strategy. One of the hardest things I have found in my wrestling watching is conveying that struggle to still perform offense. Several will just blow off and then return to selling, most will just blow off altogether. Kawada really conveys that struggle demonstrating why he is elite. Tanahashi could learn a thing or two from Mutoh. Mutoh is not perfect in this match, but gives a great performance. I loved the early work to avoid Kawada's strikes only to fall prey to them. He did blow the selling of the neck off to get to his offense, which is why I would say this is not the greatest performance ever from him. From offensive standpoint, this is incredible. I really don't know how you can fault his urgency in his attacks. He was just pressing and pressing. Dropkicking Kawada's entire right side just peppering with dropkicks the knee and arm. I just loved the suffocation. This was the full court press, but in pro wrestling. Would love to see Tanahashi pick up something like this because he shows great urgency on his High Fly Flow, but would love for him to extend this to his entire game. I would say from strategic standpoint just an absolutely genius performance that has not been replicated frequently enough. It also leads so seamlessly and beautifully into the Shining Wizards, which are sold so well. Between Mutoh's offense and Kawada's selling, it made for an all-time great finish run. The slow start and Mutoh blowing off the neck selling on the transition (loved him getting so frustrated and trying to get a chair) keep it from Top 10. I see this in the #15-25 range. Really high-end stuff from both wrestlers. ****1/2

As I was progressing through the years, I could feel that I really short-changed this match.There is nothing from my initial review that really warrants such a low rating. I think I picked up on a lot more little details and totally agree that this should be a lot higher. Even if it was a slow start, it was a start that established Takayama was going to use his size to control Misawa on the mat and avoid the strikes. That is a pretty different game plan than I have seen against Misawa. We have seen Kawada attack the elbow and Kobashi just fight fire with fire. This is a more conservative that could pay dividends. The problem is Takayama's hubris gets the best of him. He goes for the one foot cover and then kick to the back and this wakes Misawa up. However, Takayama always has a cutoff. In this case, he catches Misawa off the top with a kick to the midsection, which Misawa sells really well. Another case was Takayama putting his hand over Misawa's mouth and talking trash. if you really think about it, there is something naturally upsetting about someone having their hand over your mouth. They are in a position of power and are controlling your ability to breathe and talk. So Misawa elbows the fuck out of him and then goes to the leg with a legbar for maybe 20-30 seconds. Takayama sells the leg better than pretty much any Tanahahasi opponent that has had his leg worked on for 5-10 minutes. Again Takayama has the answer with the knee lift, but can't fully capitalize due to that bad knee. Then we get that nearfall stretch with the struggle on the Everest Germans and Takayama's realization he is not just in there with anyone he is in there with Mitsuharu Fucking Misawa. The blood that stems from the kicks by Takayama is just the cherry on top to incredible heat segment that had stretched the entire match. After being covered with one foot and his mouth covered, this blood was the last injustice Misawa would suffer and he unloads with absolutely fucking sick two elbow to Takayama's face. It is a short and compact Misawa finish run, but it is one that is satisfying and appropriate. This is a lock for the teens of my top 100 now, but misses the Top 10 because my slight, slight issues with the slow start and the Misawa arm work that really did not feel as heated as the Elbows or go anywhere. I am picking nits, but you have to for the Top 10. ****3/4

Tanahashi working underneath is why I would put this match above the other one. I agree they went a little long with the strike exchange, but I actually how well the false finish for Nakanishi was built on that last German you really felt like he had Tanahashi's number. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Manabu Nakanishi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 6/20/09 In my opinion, this is the better version of their first match. They work a lot of the same exchanges and sequences, but they add little touches here and there that make it that much more compelling as the first match. Plus this match has the luxury of building off the last one. Tanahashi made a big late match mistake when he went for the High Fly Flow on the knee and went for a Cloverleaf, but Nakanishi was just plan too big. This basically cost Tanahashi the match as Nakanishi recovered and hit three big suplexes to win the match. We know that Tanahashi will be focused on the knee, but will he trying to get a submission victory or will he use the High Fly Flow for the pinfall? Does Nakanishi just have Tanahashi number and is just too big to fail in this rematch? The best part of this rematch was restructuring the match with Nakanishi working on top with power and Tanahashi having to overcome that. The last match pitted two equals, but in this match they established Nakanishi's power game and really added an obstacle to Tanahashi's stragety. Early we see Nakanishi take Tanahashi down, win a test of strength and even with all his strength Tanahashi could not hold a side headlock as Nakanishi just threw him off. The amount of these spots really put over how strong Nakanishi was and that Tanahashi faced an uphill battle. So of course, Tanahashi went to the knee. The knee work this go around was a lot Tanahashi was stomping better and liked Nakanishi peppering his hope spots with chops and the iron claw. Another example of how this match improved on its predecessor was how when Tanahashi went to Irish Whip Nakanishi he would yank twice and he just wouldn't budge. On the second time, Tanahashi smartened up and went after the knee. In the criss cross sequence, Nakanishi scores a dropkick and throws Tanahashi down on the suplex. They run through the missed knee drop, Polish Hammer and Nakanishi aerial spots which are basically the same as the previous match. They reestablish that Tanahashi still cant turn him on a Texas Cloverleaf. I liked the pop-up no-sell this time to use as a way to catch Tanahashi coming off the top and hoisted into the Torture Rack. Tanahashi uses an eye rake to apply a Dragon Sleeper and again improved this with Nakanishi letting his hand drop twice and really take his time rehoisting him into the Rack. Nakanishi's rack does suck, but I do like him constantly going back to it and boom wicked gutbuster. When Tanahashi wins a top rope battle with headbutts, his High Fly Flow eats knees. Nakanishi runs through the same finish sequence that won him the title except on that final suplex, Tanahashi uses the ropes to whip his head back and crack heads. So far, I have really enjoyed the match and yes Nakanishi still sucks at selling the knee on offense, but they have told a much more compelling story and Nakanishi is taking his time to really put himself over as a powerhouse. Then a strike exchange that just won't end happens. I liked Tanahashi jelly-leg selling a lot and you really buy into Nakanishi German Suplex finishing him off. Nakanishi is shocked and finally the crowd wakes up and cheers for Tanahashi. As much as I like Tanahashi not having that one knock out blow it is in these situations when he is because half-dead that one knock out blow would be more credible than Sling Blade out of a Torture Rack. I actually really would have liked the heads cracking to be the lead in to the finish run. The usual Tanahashi finish run restores him to his rightful place as IWGP champion. I really loved the booking of Nakanishi getting the upset victory for the championship. It shows Tanahashi is still a young champion and not quite The Man. He is still prone to make mistakes and maybe overlooking opponents. It also allows you to milk a bit more of a lackluster career of Nakanishi. Then on the rematch you show how resilient Tanahashi is and how much the championship means to him. Here he is getting his ass kicked, but still had presence of mind to crack his head back. The finish run seemed a little too disjointed. I really liked that Nakanishi false finish because you bit on it due to Tanahashi's selling. Then Tanahashi starts to fly around after and he looked crazy suplexing Nakanishi when he was that beat up. They could have been more creative there. This falls short of Nakamura/Ohtani as the NJPW Heavies MOTY, but I'll have it in the Top 50 pretty sure. This was a very good championship match and Tanahashi overcoming a mountain. ****1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW 5/6/09 Well I sure as hell was not expecting that. I have to say the surprise finish definitely boosted it on first viewing, but clearly once you have know the finish the match comes back to Earth some. I will not be watching this back, but I will rate it based on these initial feelings. Nakanishi is your standard NJPW powerhouse that is a similar age to Nagata and Kojima, which mean he was in the class that was overlooked by Inoki's booking by the time Inoki was ousted the company was moving a new direction with Tanahashi and Nakamura. He is most famous in the US for being Kursawa in WCW in 95 wrestling Hawk usually. He is a taller version of Sasaki with a similar stout build. Based on what I have seen from Tanahashi, this should be a slam dunk great match as he excels against powerhouses. Couple things hurt this match against Goto and Suwama. Nakanishi has even less charisma than those two. He did have some impressive chops, but he really does not use his size to bully Tanahashi like he should. In addition, Tanahashi is not heeling it up as much so the match does not have that extra oomph that character work provided. It is still a great match coupled with a shocking finish that really felt special. This match also featured the first time I thought Tanahashi was too soft on offense. I know this is a common complaint about Tanahashi that in super stiff puroresu he can hit like a patsy, but I have been looking for it and I have always thought his forearms and slaps look crisp. It was his stomps to Nakanishi that look pitifully weak. The formula for face Tanahashi is that he is equal to his opponent and will get a little bit of offense in before he has to resort to attacking the knee because the opponent is countering. Tanahashi gets a somersault off the apron, but Nakanishi catches him with White Noise. Before he can be dropped on the exposed gym floor he dropkicks the knee and then dragon leg screw in the ropes. Nakanishi is great at selling the knee during the work, but like so many others he totally neglects it on his offense. Tanahashi mixes in great knee work, Nakanishi hope spots and knee cutoffs to build an interesting body. Nakanishi hits a couple big aerial moves to finally add something unique to the match. I liked Nakanishi powering through Tanahashi offense with Polish Hammers (as called by the Japanese announcers). Nakanishi powers out of a Dragon Sleeper with a powerslam. I would have liked to see more spots like that where he is using his strength to counter Tanahashi and bully him. Tanahashi hits Sling Blade and is perched on top. Then in the most amusing segment, Nakanishi rises like the Creature from the Black Lagoon and meets him and superplex. The crowd liked Nakanishi sort of Zombie No-Sell of that. My favorite thing about Tanahashi is that he has no knock out blows, but he can constantly pitted against opponents that can win in a minute's notice whether it is Nagata or Nakamura with flash submissions or Goto and Suwama with a knock out blow. So Tanahashi has to build and work for his victory. He takes the knee out to debilitate their chances of socring that low while also giving him something to attack or set up his barrage of suplexes and High Fly Flows. The finish run tells that story can Nakanishi hit one knock out blow or can Tanahashi score a victory by submission from the Cloverleaf or by pinfall from High Fly Flow? I though Nakanishi added even less than Goto and Suwama, but Tanahashi kept this interesting as he continues his streak of great matches. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 10/12/09 Oh so THIS is the Shinsuke Nakamura everybody knows and loves. I get it now. I will say in addition to being way cooler and more interesting, he actually broke a sweat in this match showing he actually tried in this match. I will always appreciate effort. To me apathy and complacency are two of the greatest ills that plague mankind in all facets of life so when I see it in a wrestling match, I immediately become annoyed. Nakamura putting forth effort here has won me over for the time being. I will curious to see how he holds up in 2010 and beyond. Nakamura won the vacant IWGP Championship from brawling brute, Togi Makabe and is now defending against Z1 invader, Shinjiro Ohtani before the return of Tanahashi next month. Even though Ohtani is the outsider, he is a respected New Japan legend and Nakamura's new persona does not endear him to the crowd. Thus you have the "We want the old timer to pull of the upset" dynamic while the cocky young champion looks to dash these hopes and rub it in everyone's faces. Ohtani gets those hopes up early scoring a big German suplex early that has Nakamura regrouping on the outside. I appreciate New Japan starting all their matches with matwork because it is good place to start a match from even if it is not very impressive matwork. In this match, he finally get matwork that actually has a sense of struggle to it and leads to the story of the match. Nakamura targets Ohtani's arm with a double wristlock, but cannot get the cross armbreaker. From there, he just violently picks Ohtani apart with knees to the arm and midsection. Nakamura conveys such arrogance and anger with each knee. This is really night and day from earlier in the year. Ohtani is the perfect face for this. He has those great facial expressions, he will sell the arm and he is such a sympathetic figure for the crowd. Everyone is just hooked at this point in the match. Nakamura throws a nasty little headbutt that busts Ohtani open. Ohtani scores a leg lariat and then has the whole place rocking as he goes for the crowd favorite facewash not once, but twice. Ohtani looks to consolidate with a Dragon Suplex, but Nakamura backs him into the corner. In this pivotal point of the match, each is jockeying position and Ohtani SWEEPS THE LEG!!! The announcers go crazy with Hashimoto references and the crowd pops huge. Dragon Suplex -> 1-> 2. Damnit! Nakamura flash submission hold! Breaks hand clasp with an elbow and cross armbreaker, but Ohtani gets ropes. Ohtani stupidly places Nakamura on top. Why would you give your opponent the high ground? Ohtani has to assault the mountain three times before he can break through Nakamura's defense. Ohtani is absolutely amazing selling this struggle. Ohtani gets the superplex and now a missile dropkick to the back. He raises his hand to the heavens. The announcers go crazy with more Hashimoto references. The Ohtani attacks with Hashimoto's overhand chops and a spinning powerbomb only gets two. Cue Ohtani histronics. Nakamura whips his head back on a dragon suplex attempt. Nakamura goes for the choke out, but Ohtani has one last gasp with an overhand chop. They punch each other at the same time. Nakamura punch and two Boma Ye knees gives Nakamura the victory in an excellent match. I am a sucker for the old timer has one last shot at greatness and all that stands in his way is the arrogant jerk current champion. Ohtani took on a ride and easily his best match as a heavyweight I have ever seen. Nakamura more than held up his end with great offense early and then really selling it like Ohtani had a chance to take the title. I loved the violence of the finish. It was a short and sweet strike exchange that Nakamura got the better of and just launched two knees to the head. He does need to learn from Hayato how to really throw that Boma Ye Knee. Ohtani just did not have enough. It is amazing Nakamura has had two excellent matches in 2009 and Tanahashi is still struggling for that home run. ****1/4

Weird I thought this was an even better version of the SUWA match because Suzuki really goes the extra mile with the heeling and you really, really want to see KENTA kick his ass. I agree KENTA just kicking ass and winning would be great, but I thought Suzuki continuing to cheat and prevent a KENTA victory was actually fun way to keep the match going.

Worse than Tanaka dragging Tanahashi down, Tanahashi also got injured from I believe the second kendo stick shot and missed three months. He was forced to relinquish the belt. This was good news for Nakamura and his new character though. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Masato Tanaka - G-1 Climax 2009 Finals There a couple checkboxes that Tanahashi still needs to check off on his resume a big time match where he works underneath and a blood feud match. We know he can work a great championship match and heel vs powerhouse. This was his chance to knock both off "To Do List". The invading Tanaka brought his friends Gedo & Jado from Zero-One and was not above using underhanded tactics to gain control. The kendo stick shot set up by Gedo distraction in the middle of the match put Tanahashi at quite the disadvantage after controlling early with his standard knee work. Tanahashi's head was rattled and would never really recover as Tanaka would blast it with a Back Drop Driver out of a Sling Blade or a lariat. The story was that Tanaka could never really fully take control because his knee was fucked so it made for a logical cutoff for Tanahashi to return on offense. Tanahashi was perfectly serviceable selling and working from underneath scrapping for that victory. However, he did not show the fire that you really want to see. It was not Nakamura level apathy, but it was not exactly the big Misawa or Hogan comeback that really gets the crowd going. Tanaka did not really fully commit to being violent or a coward. He sold the knee well, but his character work left a lot to be desired. So that when Tanahashi did fire up the investment was solely in seeing Tanahashi win not wanting to see Tanahashi kill this muthafucka. I have seen some great heel performances like Suzuki or Ogawa. This was just a dude that happened to rely on a kendo stick or his friends to get ahead. As much as I liked the table spot because it was unique in Japan, it really was not that violent. I just was not feeling the violence from Tanaka. Tanahashi was definitely trying, but it is a two way street and Tanaka just was not adding the extra oomph. This is also one of the few Tanahashi matches that I do feel goes overboard in the finish insofar that Tanahashi took way too many big spots (suplexes, another kendo stick shot, frogsplashes and forearms to head) and was still kicking out. It hurts Tanaka more than helps Tanahashi because the credibility is not really there. Then when Tanahashi does go back on offense like with the Cloverleaf and the finish run he is really just no-selling Tanaka's work rather than working through the pain. I did like Tanahashi nearfall barrage at the end, but I think positioning that early would have been to better effect. Tanahashi's usual finish run (two suplexes, Sling Blade and two High Fly Flows) is great and fine, but the urgency here hurt it because he should have been groggier. This is still a good Tanahashi performance because for the first 3/4s he really did well to create a good ebb and flow with Tanaka without seeming "my turn, your turn". The problem was that in the finish, he was just taking too much and it just was not that credible. It is still a fun match with Tanahashi overcoming the outside intereference to win the 2009 G-1 Climax. Unfortunately, it was Pyrrhic victory as his eye was injured during the match and he was forced to relinquish the title. ***1/2

Tanahashi is the King of the Finish run in Japan at this point. He consistently has mastered building his matches to a fever pitch and blowing them off at the right point unlike NOAH, which goes on and on and on. I love the urgency on his High Fly Flow, like I say below, he has a match to fucking win. This is also a great performance because in a lot ways his subtle heel routine is a crutch. It is a simple hook that gets people involved. In this match, he dropped it and worked the match very straight, but because people are so invested in the Tanahashi character and he is so good working on top heel or babyface that match was still great. Unless something drastic happens between 2009 and 2014, I am projecting Tanahashi to be in my Top 5 for best workers of the last decade (2004-2014). He is tremendous. The only thing that is holding him back is the lack of competition. He needs a Kawada and this Nakamura is just not it. I did watch Nakamura/Ohtani from 2009 and I have seen the new Nakamura and he is really, really good. That Nakamura could be his Kawada for sure, I look forward to next couple Tanahashi/Nakamura matches. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 2/15/09 Fresh off beating Mutoh for the title at the Dome show, Tanahashi defends against the man who defeated him for the title at the 2008 Dome show and subsequently successfully defended it against in March of 2008. Nakamura riding a two match win streak in title matches against Tanahashi and winning a tag match against invading NOAH forces at the Dome show could actually argued to be the favorite in this match, but as the defending champion Tanahashi is riding a wave of momentum from winning the title from an All Japan outsider and New Japan legend. Last year, Tanahashi was able to kick Nakamura's ass for the majority of the match, but fell prey to Nakamura's flash cross armbreaker. Would history repeat itself or will Tanahashi finish the job? All in all, it sets for quite the collision in February of 2009. The last Tanahashi match I watched was in April of 2008 and he was still working his great pretty boy, cocky douche character. The winds of change are blowing he is about to embark on the run that was supposed to finally definitively declare him the undisputed New Japan Ace (injury got in the way and his historic reign ended up taking place in 2011) thus the heel overtones have vanished. He is showcased as Nakamura's equal and the work is similar to how Japan worked native vs native matches in the past akin to something like a Misawa vs Kobashi. It is just two great wrestlers struggling to attain victory, nothing else is similar to that, but the point is there is no heel in the match. This is a boon in a way because Nakamura at this point is so bland that being forced to work as a fired-up babyface against Tanahashi left a lot to be desired. Now that Tanahashi was being presented as a babyface there was less reliance on Nakamura working face and just letting him work. I still didn't think they knocked this out of the park, but I would put this second only to the 2006 match, but this is essentially an improved version of the 3/30/08, but not by much. I really liked the opening amateur wrestling that Tanahashi does to open his matches it is usually well-worked and is a great place to use as a springboard to escalate a match. I love when the matwork leads to something like when Tanahashi's arm is exposed Nakamura drops a knee on it. He looks to work it over, but in haste to deflect Tanahashi dropkicks the knee to save himself. This is presented more in line as just wise strategy rather than Tanahashi is not as good as Nakamura and needs to do this to level the playing field. Tanahashi works the knee well with a toehold and a kneecrusher on the outside. Unfortunately, Tanahashi's American style does lead to some annoying American traits seeping into his matches like shooting someone into the ropes only for them to counter. There is just no sense of struggle in that type of transition. Nakamura just really does not know how to work on offense in a compelling way during the body of a match at this point of his career. Nakamura makes the dumb decision of throwing Tanahashi back in the ring ahead of him. Everybody altogether, dragon leg screw in the ropes. Tanahashi applies the figure-4, which Nakamura does a great job selling and working through. I liked Tanahashi's quick cutoffs like dropkick to the knee or Sling Blade to stymie Nakamura before he revs up. They work an elaborate submission sequence that was pretty thrilling even if it bordered on unrealistic (I watched this match in 2009 and it is the only thing I remembered about the match coming in). Nakamura is selling his frustration about not putting Tanahashi well and it feels like he cares more about this match than his 2008 performances. Sling Blade out a Landslide attempt was wicked sweet. One thing that Tanahashi has going for him over pretty much everyone else in Japan at this time is that his finish runs are consistently great. The finish is the last thing you see and too many NOAH matches will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Tanahashi matches make up what they may lack in body by having thrilling finishes that climax at the right point and incorporate the story. Nakamura is going to go for KO whether it is a landslide or a flash submission. Tanahashi will use Nakamura's knee against him and look for High Fly Flow. Tanahashi hits High Fly Flow, but eats knees. Nakamura's knees are injured and can't capitalize. Nakamura's long term selling has sucked this match, but here it was very critical and he came through. A Landslide only gets two. The new added spot is that Tanahashi spikes him on a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb. I liked Tanahashi trying hard to hook Nakamura's legs but couldnt get them in time before a kick out. There are a bunch of little touches like that that make match just much better. Tanahashi dropkicks the knee wiping Nakamura out. He rushes to the top and High Fly Flow to the back and then on his stomach to win. I love the urgency of Tanahashi's High Fly Flow. There is no time to pander for cheers, he has a fucking match to win! Nakamura's long term selling and offense at times left a lot to be desired, but he did seem more invested in this match. Tanahashi was great at changing his act so slightly to rely on being a heel, but still convincingly work on top. Once again, Tanahashi just kills it on the finish and locks up another Top 100 match to his name. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 2/15/09 Fresh off beating Mutoh for the title at the Dome show, Tanahashi defends against the man who defeated him for the title at the 2008 Dome show and subsequently successfully defended it against in March of 2008. Nakamura riding a two match win streak in title matches against Tanahashi and winning a tag match against invading NOAH forces at the Dome show could actually argued to be the favorite in this match, but as the defending champion Tanahashi is riding a wave of momentum from winning the title from an All Japan outsider and New Japan legend. Last year, Tanahashi was able to kick Nakamura's ass for the majority of the match, but fell prey to Nakamura's flash cross armbreaker. Would history repeat itself or will Tanahashi finish the job? All in all, it sets for quite the collision in February of 2009. The last Tanahashi match I watched was in April of 2008 and he was still working his great pretty boy, cocky douche character. The winds of change are blowing he is about to embark on the run that was supposed to finally definitively declare him the undisputed New Japan Ace (injury got in the way and his historic reign ended up taking place in 2011) thus the heel overtones have vanished. He is showcased as Nakamura's equal and the work is similar to how Japan worked native vs native matches in the past akin to something like a Misawa vs Kobashi. It is just two great wrestlers struggling to attain victory, nothing else is similar to that, but the point is there is no heel in the match. This is a boon in a way because Nakamura at this point is so bland that being forced to work as a fired-up babyface against Tanahashi left a lot to be desired. Now that Tanahashi was being presented as a babyface there was less reliance on Nakamura working face and just letting him work. I still didn't think they knocked this out of the park, but I would put this second only to the 2006 match, but this is essentially an improved version of the 3/30/08, but not by much. I really liked the opening amateur wrestling that Tanahashi does to open his matches it is usually well-worked and is a great place to use as a springboard to escalate a match. I love when the matwork leads to something like when Tanahashi's arm is exposed Nakamura drops a knee on it. He looks to work it over, but in haste to deflect Tanahashi dropkicks the knee to save himself. This is presented more in line as just wise strategy rather than Tanahashi is not as good as Nakamura and needs to do this to level the playing field. Tanahashi works the knee well with a toehold and a kneecrusher on the outside. Unfortunately, Tanahashi's American style does lead to some annoying American traits seeping into his matches like shooting someone into the ropes only for them to counter. There is just no sense of struggle in that type of transition. Nakamura just really does not know how to work on offense in a compelling way during the body of a match at this point of his career. Nakamura makes the dumb decision of throwing Tanahashi back in the ring ahead of him. Everybody altogether, dragon leg screw in the ropes. Tanahashi applies the figure-4, which Nakamura does a great job selling and working through. I liked Tanahashi's quick cutoffs like dropkick to the knee or Sling Blade to stymie Nakamura before he revs up. They work an elaborate submission sequence that was pretty thrilling even if it bordered on unrealistic (I watched this match in 2009 and it is the only thing I remembered about the match coming in). Nakamura is selling his frustration about not putting Tanahashi well and it feels like he cares more about this match than his 2008 performances. Sling Blade out a Landslide attempt was wicked sweet. One thing that Tanahashi has going for him over pretty much everyone else in Japan at this time is that his finish runs are consistently great. The finish is the last thing you see and too many NOAH matches will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Tanahashi matches make up what they may lack in body by having thrilling finishes that climax at the right point and incorporate the story. Nakamura is going to go for KO whether it is a landslide or a flash submission. Tanahashi will use Nakamura's knee against him and look for High Fly Flow. Tanahashi hits High Fly Flow, but eats knees. Nakamura's knees are injured and can't capitalize. Nakamura's long term selling has sucked this match, but here it was very critical and he came through. A Landslide only gets two. The new added spot is that Tanahashi spikes him on a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb. I liked Tanahashi trying hard to hook Nakamura's legs but couldnt get them in time before a kick out. There are a bunch of little touches like that that make match just much better. Tanahashi dropkicks the knee wiping Nakamura out. He rushes to the top and High Fly Flow to the back and then on his stomach to win. I love the urgency of Tanahashi's High Fly Flow. There is no time to pander for cheers, he has a fucking match to win! Nakamura's long term selling and offense at times left a lot to be desired, but he did seem more invested in this match. Tanahashi was great at changing his act so slightly to rely on being a heel, but still convincingly work on top. Once again, Tanahashi just kills it on the finish and locks up another Top 100 match to his name. ****

I third Renegade. For as much as I just praised DDP in his GWE thread for a classic heel performance and one of the best one-man carry jobs ever. The Renegade was awful. He had no sense of ring presence or charisma. He rushed everything so nothing had any meaning. Like one of my favorite spots is when a babyface has the heel in headlock and the heel goes to apron, but the face pulls him in over the top rope and of course the ref counts to five and the face has no choice, but to let go. Renegade did not wait for the 5-count. He did not get the joke. He sucks. He moved awkwardly. His offense was so light. He could not sell water to those walking in the Sahara. Ultimate Warrior comes a way a big winner from having seen the Renegade. He definitely understood character work and how to make spots seem important.

Just watched DDP vs Renegade at Fall Brawl and that may be one of the most incredible one man performances. For as great as ""The People's Champion/Working Man" DDP was, DDP was one of the best scumbag heels in the mid-90s. It is just he did not get the same chances as he did as a face. DDP is such a detestable piece of Jersey trailer trash throughout the match and has no qualms about showing a ton of ass. Besides, Heath Slater (who totally rules), there is nobody on the current roster that is willing to make someone look this good by bumping and cowering from them. Then realizing the way you scoop your heel heat back is by cheating! 1995 WCW was an interesting place you had Pillman/Badd before doing a match that I would say really had never been done before in America with tons of nearfalls and lots of MOVEZ~!, but it is now the norm in WWE and Japanese main event styles and you had Hogan on top with his cartoon bullshit. DDP was a refreshing rehash of a classic Southern heel that just has no redeeming qualities and is someone you want to see punched in the face. I look forward to watching more DDP from this era.

I always really liked the Survivor Series Sid match. I thought it was bratty Shawn at his best. I am being generous with the Vader match probably. It should have been a lot better, but it is still better than any Davey Boy match that is not against, Bret, Shawn or Owen. My hang-up with the Goldust ladder match was the camerawork when I watched it two years ago. Maybe it is not as bad of camerawork as I thought. The 1995 ladder match is a US Match of the Decade contender absolutely riveting stuff where just like Matt says for the Goldust match they use the ladder as a tool to garner a victory by destroying Shawn's knee. The '94 ladder match is really good also and just a level below the '95 ladder match.

Not in my book, less than Davey and way less than Owen. What's the best Owen match that does not involve Bret? What's the best Owen match that does involve Shawn? So I would say the Davey Boy match from '97, the Austin match from SSlam '97, 1-2-3 Kid from '94 and... What's the best Davey Boy match that does not involve Bret? What's the best Davey Boy match that does not involve Shawn? So I would say the Own match from '97 and... Shawn had the Jarrett match, the Razor matches (two ladder matches and 8/94 RAW), Sid, Vader, Diesel, Foley, Austin and Undertaker matches. Owen and Davey Boy are fun characters and enjoy them when they pop up. They can carry their load in a match, but Shawn is working a Memphis match against Jarrett, defining the Ladder match style with amazing psychology in each (I put over the spots and II had great body part work), worked great against bigger men, old school against Austin, a great violent brawl with Foley and the chickenshit heel run to end all chickenshit heel runs against Undertaker. Shawn smokes Owen and Davey Boy and really is not even close.

So is Tanahashi a face or heel or neither? Everything I had read presented him as a face ace of New Japan. Maybe as I watch more recent footage that will be the take home, but he was quite clearly a heel in the Goto match, a subtle heel in the October Nagata match and all the Nakamura matches and an invading heel at Champions Carnival. The last pure babyface work seems to be against Bernard in 2006. Is Tanahashi just a heel that gets cheered? His strong suit in my opinion is extract the absolute best out of power wrestlers like Goto or Suwama, who would feel faceless and generic in the 2000s Japan landscape. He gives them someone completely unique to play off against each other. He also treats their power like a real threat. At first he is cocky and then he realizes he is in over his head, ATTACK THE KNEE! It is weird because I read in the GWE thread for Tanahashi that his matches feel soulless, but the only matches that have felt soulless are the Nakamura ones. I understand the Nakamura loves comes from after his "personality transplant" (a perfect way someone described it). So I will be holding out hope. My point is my creating a stronger face/heel dynamic, Tanahashi has boosted the crowd heat in his matches so that he is second only to Kobashi in the reactions he can get consistently and developed a underutilized hook: Can Tanahashi eek out a victory or will his pretty face finally get smashed in? I do not think there is anything soulless about that. Does anybody know if the November 2009 Nakamura vs Tanahashi match is available? It is the one where Tanahashi is coming back from his eye injury. I watched the February 2009 match last night, have not had a chance to write everything down, but I put it in a three-way tie with 3/30/08 and 12/10/06. They are all great matches, but they have not hit it out of the park yet. I watched the 2006 match months ago so I do not have a strong memory of it, but from my review I would say that is one I liked the best. I remember thinking Nakamura added more in 2006 with the rib work and flash submission. I would say all three are very close and all three have very good finish runs.

U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - Tokyo Dome 01/04/05 Tanahashi defends his vanity title against Nakamura in the main event of the 01/04 Dome show in the last NJPW Dome show to draw over 40k. Incidentally, nine years later they main evented this past Dome show and drew 35k together. More things change, the more they stay the same. Even though the main event is a major shake-up from the usual Inoki-ist fare at the time, the undercard featured an "Ultimate Royale" Tournament, which was most likely a faux-MMA tournament where Ron Waterman went over Nagata?!?!?! Also there was the usual Chono old person match where he took on Riki Choshu and Tenzan in a triple threat match. While Tanahashi and Nakamura were clearly the future (they just main evented the 2014 Dome show, which did 35k), New Japan was still taking baby steps towards its current product. Just like New Japan was testing the waters, Tanahashi and Nakamura were still get acclimated to the main event scene in this uneven affair. I would say Tanahashi or Nakamura were pretty even at this point of their careers (I don't know if a gap ever really formed between the two, but looking forward to finding out). Both are terribly inconsistent, but you can see there is enough good in each one to know that once they pull it all together that they could carry a promotion. What is also interesting is that you see a slightly different style emerging from this match that is clearly different than NOAH, but also a departure from traditional New Japan Strong Style. New Japan has always focused on matwork and strikes with each star having just a handful of spots (slams, suplexes etc...). Even before this match settled with matwork typical of a New Japan match. They each hit the other with an early suplex, which seemed oddly NOAH. It did not really fit with the rest of the match, but the match was such a hodgepodge that nothing really fit. The matwork was more in the vein of 80s style matwork that you find opening a Flair match: amateur ride and wrangling for positioning rather than MMA-style matwork. Then Tanahashi totally no-sells a superplex. Not like Luger no selling a Flair move because Luger is a badass. Tanahashi acts like the move literally did not happen. He just brushes it off. It was so friggin' weird. I have watched Tanahashi matches before, but outside of his spots I do not really remember how he wrestles the body of his matches. I was very pleasantly surprised how he worked his control segment on the back. A babyface working a control segment is in my opinion the hardest segment to work and often gets labelled as heel in peril. There is a difference to me from heel in peril and a babyface control segment. A heel in peril resembles a face in peril with extended selling and wear down, but with a heel on the receiving end. I feel Tanahashi was working a match closer to how you would see Backlund would with a clear strategy and looking to close in on a victory. It feels like Tanahashi is building towards a victory rather than the heel gaining command and going into the heat section. I feel like I am not doing a very good job explaining it. It is like the better sports team just gaining the advantage in a game and never really giving up the lead. Nine times out of ten, the babyface is the better wrestler than the heel, but the heel cheats or uses roughhouse tactics to compete. However, wrestling also nine times out of ten tells the story of how the babyface has to overcome the odds even though on paper he is better. Thus this is an interesting wrinkle to actually reflect a sporting contest in a more meaningful way. Of course, I don't know if Nakamura is really a heel here, I know he is by 2006, but if this is just face vs face chock it up to Nakamura just having better heel charisma for why I think that way. Long story, short, I dug Tanahashi's back work. Another odd thing about this match is that it felt slow. It is not like they moved slow. Tanahashi wiped himself out and Nakamura in a wicked dive and Nakamura has some really bursts of acceleration of his flying cross armbreakers, but even between moves it was really plodding. The match story became that only way Nakamura could compete with Tanahashi was through these flash submissions. Tanahashi controlled 75% of the match, but could not put Nakamura away. At first Tanahashi is able to withstand the submissions and even get his own dragon sleeper, but Nakamura countered that by using the ropes into his own dragon sleeper in the only spot of the match that gets a pop. This was HHH/Brock Wrestlemania 29 levels of silence. Nakamura does get to showcase his offense briefly and I just love how he puts his unique spin on everything. Nobody does a powerbomb or a moonsault quite like that. He is a very weird guy. Ambrose should watch more Nakamura, if he does not already. Nakamura misses a knee drop to end his offensive spurt. Tanahashi slaps him a couple time to draw the nose-to-nose and you know end game is coming. Tanahashi hits a powerbomb, but Nakamura locks on the triangle choke, Tanahashi escapes to get a dragon suplex. Nakamura gets a cross armbreaker out of nowhere and Tanahashi sells it well to know he is finally in trouble. The sleeper nearly renders Tanahashi unconscious when he looks to break it, Nakamura quickly switches to the cross-armbreaker to win. I liked the basic idea of the story: Tanahashi controls the majority of the match, but Nakamura hangs on with flash submissions. Tanahashi lets him linger and eventually bites him in the ass. Still the execution was just off. It felt slow, cold and uninteresting. I think Tanahashi works on top just fine, but just did not have a commanding presence at the time. Nakamura working from underneath worked in one regard because the flash submissions were an interesting hook, but he was not very good at selling. The beginning was pretty awful or boring. Things did get better after Tanahashi started to work on the back, but they were still a ways a way from delivering a classic. *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06 What a difference two years makes! This is a vast, vast improvement over there very uneven Dome '05 main event and the first real indication that New Japan is turning things around from the Dark Ages of Early 00s Inoki-ism. I do not know the exact timetable, but I am pretty sure that Inoki has been ousted or will be by year's end. I remember Brock was the first champion of the Inoki Genome Federation (which is oddly still around and has just signed Shinya Hashimoto's son). This change over in power has refocused on the company on pro wrestling, a novel concept, but as we have seen from Vince Russo sometimes wrestling companies forget they are wrestling companies. I remain impressed with Tanahashi's ability to energetically work on top when it so much easier for a babyface to work underneath. He does so with vulnerability as he does a great job selling the ribs in the middle portion of the match. Nakamura has developed a lot and is not just relying on flash submissions, but is varying his offense and seems more sure of himself. In the beginning as expected, Tanahashi bests Nakamura on the mat and I really liked the one spot where Tanahashi goes for the sunset flip and Nakamura back rolls out. Any wrestling fan at this point just expects Nakamura to dropkick Tanahashi in the face. Except Tanahashi rears back and avoids him thus he ends up getting a nearfall on Nakamura. It is neat little spot at the beginning. As in a lot of 00s puroresu matches, the struggle of a suplex signals a critical point in the match as Nakamura is able to hit a front suplex and follow that up with knee lifts to the ribs. A great spot during this fantastic rib work (Nakamura on point and Tanahashi sells beautifully) is Tanahashi is able to create separation looks to dive onto Nakamura ala Dome '05, but wary of this Nakamura rushes back in and spears Tanahashi right in the injured ribs.That is some good pro wrestling right there. They use the dragon sleeper reversal here again and it does get a good pop so like the tombstone reversal I see its value. I am disappointed a forearm exchange is the transition to Tanahashi's control segment. It is so cliche by this point. Tanahashi hits Sling Blade to cement his advantage and works a pretty good control. Nakamura traps him in a flash triangle where Tanahashi's arm drops twice, which was a pretty heated nearfall. Nakamura kicks out at one on Sling Blade. I think a well-timed one count can be pretty effective tool ala well-timed no selling. That one count was not well-timed. Tanahashi's High Fly Flow eats knees leaving him prey for Landslide, but that only gets two. Tanahashi blocks the Super Landslide attempt and defeats Nakamura with the impressive combination of a powerbomb, High Fly Flow and Tiger Suplex. I do not know all the intricacies of New Japan booking at this point, but this match seemed pretty definitive in defining their future roles. Tanahashi was going to be the ace of his generation and was being set up to wrestle current Ace, Nagata, whom he ultimately vanquish in a changing of the guard. Nakamura would his Tenryu to his Jumbo or Kawada to his Misawa, the number two who will get the title and run with it, but never be the Ace. From a kayfabe point of view, Nakamura does not seem to be able match Tanahashi's firepower. He worked the ribs well, but really could not get the job done. Then he had to rely on his two big bombs: a flash submission and his Landslide, but it was too little too late. Tanahashi demonstrated his dynamism being to work effectively in control and underneath. The finish stretch needed to be built a little better, but baby steps and this was a great body of a match with a good finish. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - Tokyo Dome 01/04/08 After New Japan's resurgence in 2007, I was surprised by the lack of representation for New Japan in 2008. Before I watch the nominated 2009 Tanahashi vs Nakamura, I thought I would watch the two Tanahashi/Nakamura matches from 2008. At the 2005 Dome show, Tanahashi and Nakamura had their first major singles match, which oddly enough is the last Dome show to draw 40K+. Nakamura had main evented two Dome shows before (Takayama and Bob Sapp), but neither Nakamura nor Tanahashi were really ready to main event Dome shows at that point of their career and delivered what could be best described as a disjointed performance. They seemed to put it together against each for the IWGP Championship in late 2006 that seemed to kick off the New Japan Heavyweight resurgence after the exile of Antonio Inoki. Tanahashi went on to have a breakout year in 2007 with a tremendous match of the decade contender against Nagata and another excellent bout this time against Goto. On the other hand, Nakamura had a rough 2007 being injured in the middle of the year before coming back to defeat Togi Makabe to earn this title match. For the majority of this match, Nakamura looks like a complete charisma vacuum. I know that modern Nakamura is night and day compared to the bland Nakamura of old. That being said the dude in this match really had no babyface charisma except for a flash late in the match. As much as find Goto and Suwama one-dimensional, they are easily plugged into the Tanahashi formula and it produces a great match. Where the Tanahashi formula fails is when he is wrestling the equivalent of cream-colored wallpaper. Tanahashi is once again excellent in this match and drives my interest throughout the match when he is on offense and when he is selling for Nakamura. Nakamura spooks Tanahashi early with a quick cross-armbreaker attempt. Tanahashi, unnerved, rushes the ring and crowds Nakamura out of the ring. As Nakamura looks to return to the ring, Tanahashi does not give him a fair chance and he grabs the leg for the dragon leg screw. If you watched Tanahashi in this time period, you know how this goes lots of great knee work and awesome gloating. He has it down to the science, the opponent shows up Tanahashi and Tanahashi gets desperate looks for the knee to put himself in the driver seat. The problem is Nakamura is so boring that I feel no desire to see him make the comeback. He blows off the knee selling like nothing happened with knee lifts and moonsaults. Then they are trading Germans with each other interminably. I know Angle was on the card. It does not mean you have to him book your match. This reminded me a lot of their 2005 match and not in a good way. Tanahashi accidentally strikes gold when he blocks a lariat and this hurts Nakamura's injured arm. I know it is injured because it has tape on it. This is when for the first time Nakamura actually contributes and that was great verbal selling during Tanahashi terrific beatdown on the injured arm, which included a cross-armbreaker and a High Fly Flow. On the second High Fly Flow, he ate knees. Nakamura gets Landslide, but only for two. They go back and forth on the suplexes a bit, Tanahashi does seem a little desperate, which adds a little character to it, but it mostly feels mindless. I will say the Super Landslide did feel big and the quiet Dome crowd did pop for it as Nakamura takes the title. I have really enjoyed Tanahashi's heel work and would have loved to see it continue in 2008, but I guess there was a contract dispute so it was best to take the title off of him. I didn't think was nearly as good as the 2006, but Tanahashi had grown enough since 2005 to deliver a decent main event, but on the biggest show of the year you would hope for better, but his dance partner felt lethargic and sluggish on this night. ***1/2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 3/30/08 In the intervening show, Nakamura unified the two disparate IWGP Championships (that were a result of Brock Lesnar and Antonio Inoki departing New Japan) by defeating Kurt Angle (he had beaten Brock Lesnar) and Tanahashi defeated AJ Styles. Now Tanahashi gets his rematch against Nakamura, who had beaten him about three months ago at the Dome show. First thing is that this taking place Korakuen Hall helps immensely as there is real crowd heat and they do not feel need to do "Dome" spots like trading German Suplexes with each other interminably. Tanahashi is really over at the start the match to my surprise. Before watching any Tanahashi, I always thought he was an ace babyface like John Cena, but very clearly has been wrestling heel even though he looks like a babyface and is cheered like one. Maybe this is just me not totally understanding Japanese puroresu culture. Anyways, he is his usual awesome self and in this match he is afforded the opportunity to go even further with his leg work than normal which helps me enjoy the match more because Nakamura is much better at selling than on offense. Nakamura may be one of the worst babyfaces on offense ever. Sure his execution is fine, but he has no fire and no passion. It feels like he is either going through the motions or thinking about what he has to do next. Nakamura clearly has way more potential than fucking Hirooki Goto yet once again Tanahashi has gotten a better match out of Goto than out of Nakamura because Nakamura seems so nonchalant and apathetic. Hell they even gave him a babyface shine where Tanahashi is selling his bodyslams by powdering and Nakamura still looks bored. Tanahashi gets the party started with a dragon leg screw. Tanahashi adds wrapping the leg around the post and an inverted deathlock to his leg work slappping Nakamura down as he tries to get up. Nakamura mounts a comeback through Tanahasi's knee cutoffs. I like that as an obstacle for Nakamura to overcome, which is a nice touch by Tanahashi even if Nakamura was just going through the motions. Tanahashi gets a dragon sleeper and even though Nakamura is able to wriggle free, a well-timed dropkick to the knee stymies his comeback. Nakamura shows some life by struggling against the Cloverleaf in a nice spot before finally Tanahashi gets it applied. Tanahashi goes up top and Nakamura meets him, but ends up in a Tanahashi powerbomb. Nakamura applies a flash triangle. That is a great callback to their 2006 match where Nakamura was just rocking the flash submission from underneath to great effect. Tanahashi counters into the Cloverleaf, very nice. Tanahashi hits the finish run: Human Capture Suplex, two Sling Blades and a High Fly Flow can't get it done. Second High Fly Flow eats knees, but Nakamura's knees are injured and he sells! Landslide out of nowhere and a second one triggers a nearfall barrage. The actual finish was really good with Tanahashi getting an O'Connor Roll and Nakamura countering into a cross-armbreaker for the immediate tapout. If Nakamura bothered to give two fucks this would be an MOTYC for 2008 (a loaded year and they would have been hard-pressed to win), but as is it is an amazing Tanahashi match and a great match overall. Given the flash triangle and flash cross-armbreaker, they should have played up that aspect more. Overall, it felt like Nakamura was extremely boring on offense, but really got his ass handed to him by Tanahashi. I am not saying Nakamura should roll over Tanahashi, but instead more commitment from Nakamura to a specific strategy and in-ring character. Besides the flash submissions, Nakamura just felt really generic. I thought that is what made the 2006 match so interesting was Nakamura's commitment to that. Chock this up as another Tanahashi performance that carries the day. ****

Best opening segment in recent memory and best character work ever by Orton! That's how Ambrose should be booked instead of a moody teenager with a bad sense of humor. Orton killed it. Damn, I was impressed they got all those months out of Orton as a lead heel and champion past what I thought was his expiration date. If they keep this up, Orton will actually be revitalized again. Wow! Really dug the electricity of the opening segment

I forgot to mention this in the main thread, but Kris reminded me here. Orton is the anti-Kojima as all his RKO variations are cool as all hell and all of Kojima's Ace Crusher variations look stupid as all hell.

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs KENTAFuji - NOAH 5/24/08 It is the great juniors tag team of the early 90s versus the great junior tag team of the mid 00s in 2008, BABY! This felt like Kikuchi's retirement match, but I guess he kept on wrestling afterwards. The way crowd was cheering for him and how the match was structured then the end with Kobashi raising his hand for the salute. Was this his sendoff from NOAH or just a little bit of nostalgia kick to get Kobashi & Kikuchi back together one last time since we do not know when Kobashi's last match could be? Anyways, it worked. The heat was great, but the heat for Kobashi matches pretty much exceeds everyone. Tanahashi has been creeping up there especially his match with Suwama. We will see if that continues into 2009 for him. Right now Kobashi still gets the biggest reactions from the fans in Japan. What elevated this was bringing him back to his roots with Kikuchi, who may have been even more over than Kobashi. Clearly putting Kikuchi with Suzuki or Kanemaru and you wouldn't have the same effect. It was the interactive effect of having Kikuchi with Kobashi that really generated this interest in Kikuchi. Marufuji is so, so, so much better when he goes full heel. This was the perfect spot for him to be doing shit like pec bouncing, calling out Kobashi, running away tagging KENTA, taking a bump off a rolling cradle like he was the Nature Boy and being a general douche because how much the crowd loves Kobashi & Kikuchi. Kobashi was so much fun in this match. Whether it was great ab work over KENTA, beating the shit out of Marufuji, busting out the rolling cradle and falling into the ring trying to tag Kikuchi, who was getting his ass kicked at the time. Kikuchi sold well enough and the crowd was so behind him when he did make the tag, you wanted to see Kobashi The Destroyer. He took both on, but eventually he fell prey to the numbers game and they overwhelmed him with big moves and Kikuchi had to save. KO-BASH-I! KO-BASH-I! KO-BASH-I! Since coming back from cancer, I have loved how vulnerable Kobashi has looked (except in that lame Sasaki tag match). Tag to KIKUCHI! He is on fire, but again the numbers prove too much for him. I love how Japanese tag match really incorporate the long last effects of a face in peril segment. Kikuchi ranas out of KENTA's powerbomb. Kobashi directing traffic tells him to ascend the top. Crowd is molten, diving headbutt. Again, Fuji and KENTA are able to double team Kikuchi, which leaves him prey to the exploding knee and Go 2 Sleep combo. It is a nostalgia match pure and simple. If anybody else was having this match, I would say it was a good, solid bout, but not top 100 of the decade. But it was not just anybody it was Kobashi and Kikuchi reunited and that was just so much fun. With everybody playing their role so well, it is hard not to fall in love with this match. Kobashi falling into the ring trying to tag Kikuchi was just so good and loved him telling Kikuchi to go to the top. After the match, all the respect shown by the combatants for Kikuchi and by the crowd was heart-warming. This is match is very similar to Taue/Rikio it is rooted more in the crowd dynamic and the characters. It is a borderline Top 100 candidate, but something that leaves you with a smile on your face even if the old guy just did not have enough to get it done. ***3/4

Weird. I didn't think any puro matches that did not make Ditch's master list for Best of Japan would have had thread so I didn't post this post here originally. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 2008 This did not make the Best of Japan 00's voting, but could not simply resist watching one of my new favorites against one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Tanahashi as the cocky, pretty boy that will do anything to win matches is incredible. What makes him such a great heel is that he is always doing something underhanded to take the advantage. Early on, he gets under Kawada's skin by slapping him on a rope break and running away.He transitioned this into a baseball slide and wiping out Kawada with a plancha. When Kawada started kicking his pretty face in with big boots and then whipping him into the railing, he tried to blow out Kawada's knee. Unfortunately for him, Kawada has not sold his knee all decade and he probably is not going to start for this punk kid. Kawada is the perfect foil for Tanahashi. Unlike Suwama and Goto for are ultra-serious Strong Style pro wrestlers. Kawada has character. He holds Tanahashi in contempt for flaunting his hair and being a punk. So when Kawada is beating the snot out of him it is all the better. They do a great build on the outside to a Kawada powerbomb where he just throws Tanahashi DOWN! Tanahashi has been a great bumper in the matches I have seen. He really makes people's offense look good. Just when it looks like Kawada has him beat as he goes for a second powerbomb, Tanahashi low blows him. Awesome! The finish run is very well-done with minimal no-selling. Tanahashi is just absolutely desperate. He throws everything at Kawada going after his knees, throwing out cradles and sprinting for High Fly Flow. Kawada is also working hard to win the match using cradles, hits his brainbuster and kicks to head. There is a real sense of urgency as the clock winds down to a draw. This is the best Kawada match seen since 2005 and is about on par with Misawa Dome match. Tanahashi played to 00s Kawada's strengths and that is just letting him kick ass and work a hot finish. The more I watch the more I believe that if the NWA travelling champ was still a thing that Tanahashi would be the best NWA champion today. He works great with a variety of opponents, he knows how to shine them up, he always gets the crowd invested in his matches, he knows how to work on top as a face or as heel and his finish run lead to a climax. It was great to see Kawada have another great match and this leaves me only more excited for more Tanahashi matches. ****